Safe to leave external HDD running 24/7?

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xFuryofFivex

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I googled my question and found a lot of results, however nothing that would answer the question in way that i could understand.

I recently bought a 4TB WD mybook to use for backing up all my files
I was considering getting a new router with 1x or 2x USB ports. to Turn the external drive into a makeshift NAS. A way that i could share all my files across the 4 computers in my household.
My main concern is leaving the device on, since there is no active cooling in these devices(that i'm aware of), i'm worried the drive with fail due to overheating.
Also unlike HDD that shut off when not in use, do external HDD's shut off or stop spinning when not in use?
 
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I'm not sure if your router will support your 4TB drive.. I have the Asus 1750AC router and it did not support the 3TB drive I bought for the same purpose. Anyway if you run into the same issue, I would just purchase a 2tb internal drive and use it in an external case to avoid that concern. Also I'm pretty sure the WD red NAS drives are made to run 24/7 so it may be a good choice to add one of those.
 
Vincent Tempus said:
I'm not sure if your router will support your 4TB drive.. I have the Asus 1750AC router and it did not support the 3TB drive I bought for the same purpose. Anyway if you run into the same issue, I would just purchase a 2tb internal drive and use it in an external case to avoid that concern. Also I'm pretty sure the WD red NAS drives are made to run 24/7 so it may be a good choice to add one of those.
Click to expand...

Arent the Red Drives made specific for NAS?

Are there any routers that do support 4TB?
im not too worried about not having it being networked.
 
I have no idea if any routers will support 4TB and if they do, it may end up reading slow being that the drive is huge. That's just something you will have to check when you are ready to grab the router.

Well, I went with 2 3TB reds for the router and thats when I found out it did not support 3TB size. Currently I'm using both of them in my sig rig and they work fine as just regular storage. If they were supported by my router I think they would work the same as the green I'm using now except the red drive wouldn't turn itself off sometimes. (I bought a 1tb green used just for the time being, my router was brand new when i bought it and figured they would add support for larger drives, however I never got around to checking that.)
 
I would imagine the drive would spin down when idle. I wouldn't worry about it in terms of wear and tear anymore than any other drive running 24/7.
 
xFuryofFivex said:
Arent the Red Drives made specific for NAS?
Click to expand...


Not in the way you're using it, for a single drive it is irrelevant which one you choose really.

I've run my externals non-stop 24/7 for years. one of them for 5 years and only had to remove it because of a faulty power cable. Hard drives are pretty solid that they don't really rely on active or even passive cooling. So long as the case has adequate air flow or it isn't placed somewhere where the exhaust ventilation isn't blocked you'll be fine.


And yes most externals in the last 2-3 years power down when idle (usually 10 minutes) and to be quite honest if you use an external for anything other than backups that power down is really freaking annoying. Can't find a damn external these days that doesn't power down and take 20 seconds to wind back up every few minutes.
 
I dont trust the USB electronics used by external drives, I've seen too many die so wouldnt leave it on permanently, even with power saving because the USB controller is still active.
The drive may not use power saving either so could run permanently.
This can be a large issue if the drive runs hot as it will reduce the life of all electronics, including the USB controller.

Ordinarily this wouldnt be too much of an issue with a drive less than 2.2TB, but you may not be able to read the contents of larger drives when taken out of the caddy and plugged directly into a PC (even when you have GPT support).
This means you need a backup of your 4TB drive if you are going to leave it on for long periods.

I'm in the same boat, I have a 4TB external drive that is for backups and occasional use now as I dont want to leave it on.
This drive has no power saving, it is permanently running when plugged in and gets quite hot (near 50C at times with no fan).
I have it operating near a fan when in use so at least there is some air circulation.
fyi
 
im not sure which direction i want to go in

I can return the external drive and go straight NAS,

keep the external and still go NAS
using the external as a back-up of my back-up essentially.

or stay with the external as it is now

update***im gonna stick with my external, then eventually i either go NAS with possible Mirroring
 
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what about something like
WD My Cloud 4TB Personal Cloud Storage - NAS

external enclosure with NAS built-in
 
Internal or external shouldn't matter, a hdd will have less 'wear and tear' if left running.

The difference is external drives will probably run hotter so check temps, plus they are more likely to be damaged due to shock or movement.
 
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